Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-02-24
The hohENzoLLEkNs-
frerogativeS and Traditional Policy OF the
Ruling Family of Germany.


! descended from Count Thassilo, of
Zollern, one of the Generals of Charlie
j nagne. His successor, Count Fried
rich l., built the family castle of Hohen-
zollern, near the Danube, in the wear
$50. In 1415. the head of the family
obtained possession of the province
OF Brandenburg, and two years later
was recognized as an Elector of the En-
pre- A century later, the province of
Prussia came into the possession of the
family, through the election of Al
| brecht, younger son, to the post of
Grand Master of the province. This,
together with the additions to the
family possessions made by Friedrich
Wilhelm in the seventeenth century,
| encouraged the son of the Great
Elector' to crowp himself King at
Konigsberg. January Is, 17O1. under
the title of Friedrich I. From this time
forward the dominions of the King of
Prussia steadily increased. until, after
the war of 1866, the kingdom covered
137. O66 square miles, with population
of nearly %, 100000. With this growth
in power came the natural rivalry with
Austria. As far back as 1888 Prussia
had formed the Zollverein, or customs
onion, of the German powers, exclud-
ing Austria. This was small loss
financially to the great empire of
Austria-Hungary, but it constituted
tie between Prussia and the German
States, and threatened Austria's POSI-
ton as head of the German Confedera-
ton. This led to numberless iealousies
and chickering's, until finally, in 1866,
Prussia determined to exclude Austria
from the Confederation. The victory
at Sadowa. July3, settled this question,
and Prussian influence became supreme
in Germany; so that during the Franco
Prussian war of 1870. King Wilhelm
l>became Emperor Wilhelm /. of a newly
| organized German Empire.
The Hohenzollerns have always been
despotic rulers. The kingdom had nc
definite constitution until 1S49. Before
that the Kings had ''entrusted'' to a
convocation of the provincial assem-
blies the right to be called upon to assist
in raising money, by borrowing or by
new taxes, but this practically amounted
to little, as the King controlled the
main sources of revenue, the crown
lands and the custom duties. A Prussian
diet was established in 1S47. and
the deputies assembled with great hopes
of obtaining share in the Government.
Disappointed in this hope, the tone OF
the liberal members became disloyal to
the Kings prerogatives. Some of them
compared the situation with that of the
English after the revolution of 1858.
In answer to this, Captain (nOw Prince)
Won Bismarck, who sat as alternate fol-
the representative of the Knight 5 estate
of Jerichow, rose and replied that 1.-the
English people were then in different
position from that of the Prussian peo-
pie now. A century of revolution and
civil war had invested it with the right
to dispose of the crown and bind it up
with conditions accepted by William Of
Orange. The Prussian sovereigns were
in possession of Il crown, not by grace
of the people, but by grace of God; an
actually unconditional crown, some o.
the rights of which they voluntarily
conceded to the people-an example
rare in history" This was the position
taken by the crown and its supporters
Compare it with the pretension of James
[. of England, that the rights of Parlia-
ment were derived from the tolerance
of the throne.
But popular sentiment was strongly
in favor of liberal government, and riots
occurred in Berlin, which the King tried
vainly to subdue by concessions, first OF
a new ministry. and second of increased
powers TO the Diet. The final crushing
of this instruction led to a conserva-
tive reaction, 'and the constitution of
1849 confirmed many of the disputed
powers ofroyalty. Bismarck was looked
upon as a rising man at this time, and
the King soon recognized his merit by
employing him as his representative in
the German Diet at Frankfurt. King
Friedrich Wilhelm ". died in 1861,
and was succeeded by his brother, ihe
present sovereign. This confirmed Bis
marck's power, and when in 1862 the
Diet refused the appropriations neces-
sary to carry out the Government policy
the Ministry resigned, and the King
sent for Bismarck, who was in Paris,
and made him Chancellor. The policy
of Bismarck has always been that of des-
potic rule, and the Emperor, though in
no sense a tyrant, is SO completely I'M
der the sway of the traditional policy of
the PrussiaD Kings that he can not I'M
derstand how government can be sta
bic without strong element of despot-
ism. Chicago Inter Ocean.